Life is What Happens

Every year I make resolutions.  Some folks think I am foolish for doing so, but it lets me feel as if I have some control if after all  “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” 

The year 2012 was full of sorrows. 

I lost a precious grandson, a toddler, and I lost my older brother. Several of my friends lost husbands, mothers, sisters, and sons – all just as precious to them. I do not know what we are to learn from this other than life is fragile and temporal. It reassured my belief that there has to be more than what we know of existence.  

I broke my right foot in June.  Bummer. It took six weeks and not eight as the doctor predicted to recover, but it restricted my exercise routine for the next three months. My tootsie still tires easily but it doesn’t keep me from getting into trouble.  

Then there was that “other” inconvenience when I discovered I had Type II Diabetes.  Rhubarb! (That’s my version of a cuss word.)  I‘ve learned to live with it. I take my meds and watch my diet.  

The year 2012 was also full of successes and blessings.

In June, I became a grandma for the eighth time.  He is beautiful and smart and energetic. His mommy and I made a pact – I get to sit him for one whole year.  She gets to gain some mileage on her college degree, and he gets a reprieve from day care until he can communicate a little better.

Besides attending five symphonies, six Broadway plays, one Rodeo performance, and several concerts, HoneyBunch and I took a couple of small road trips. But the highlight came in May when HB dragged me off to China for two weeks.  I climbed the Great Wall, rubbed noses with a Terra Cotta Warrior, and ate funny, squishy things with chop sticks.  

Amid all this, I worked on my writing career. I attended my weekly writing group, three conferences, and several book club meetings. I finished one novel and then reworked another one entirely. I also entered a writing contest. Though my entry didn’t do well, effort counts, so yay me.  

I also voted in the national election.  I studied the candidates and the issues, then made my choice.  Kind of like the writing contest I entered, my nominee didn’t do well, but there is no shame in having convictions and standing by them.

So here comes 2013, and if “life is what happens while you are busy making other plans,” I have made my resolutions. I wrote them down in my journal back in September and regardless what life has in store for me, I will persist and plug away at them.